The Times Stephen Spender Prize 2013

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Translation can draw the poet out of someone who may not have realised the
poet in themselves. The response to poetry is in us all but it takes an
extra talent to turn response to invention, to hear and speak echo in a
fresh voice.

This year, echoes and freshness have remained of the essence. There was one
outstanding, very ambitious piece in the 14-and-under category. The
sophistication, assurance, and indeed freshness of Noah Norman’s rendering
of one of Cyrano’s speeches from Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac was
striking. It was at home with lines like “Play the lounge lizard in